Stages of Faith

If you haven't been exposed to the Stages of Faith Consciousness formulated by James Fowler, here's an abbreviated version for future reference. Kester Brewin’s application of Fowler’s stage-theory compels me to say a few words about it before critiquing his bookThe Complex Christ:

First, Fowler does not use the word "faith" to describe Christian faith or any particular brand of faith, rather, as he puts it:

"Faith . . .may be characterized as an integral, centering process underlying the formation of beliefs, values and meanings that (1) gives coherence and direction to persons’ lives, (2) links them in shared trusts and loyalties with others, (3) grounds their personal stances and communal loyalties in the sense of relatedness to a larger frame of reference, and (4) enables them to face and deal with the limit conditions of human life, relying upon that which has the quality of ultimacy in their lives . . .The stages aim to describe patterned operations of knowing and valuing that underlie our consciousness." (Faithful Change by Fowler, p. 56)

Second, Fowler’s stages follow along the lines of the stage-theorists Jean Piaget , Erik Erikson & Lawrence Kohlberg. To understand Fowler more fully is to understand these other stage theories as well--particularly Jean Piaget’s theory of Cognitive Development .

Third, Fowler’s "seven stagelike positions in process of growth and transformation in faith" emerged out of over 5000 interviews that he and his associates had with people asking them

". . .to tell us (them) something of their lives and pilgrimages, their journeys, giving us (them) access to how they have formed and are forming their particular ways of making meaning." (Weaving the New Creation by Fowler, p. 102).

Finally, without any further delay, here is a synopsis of Fowler’s provocative stage theory (from Weaving the New Creation):

• Primal Faith :: "Earliest faith is what enables us to undergo these separations [from parents] without undue anxiety or fear of loss of self. Primal faith forms before there is language. It forms the basic rituals of care and interchange and mutuality. And, although it does not determine the course of our later faith, it lays the foundation on which later faith will build or that will have to be rebuilt in later faith" (p. 103).
• Intuitive-Projective Faith :: "The next stage of faith emerges in early childhood with the acquisition of language. Here imagination, stimulated by stories, gestures, and symbols and not yet controlled by logical thinking, combines with perception and feelings to create long-lasting faith images . . .Representations of God take conscious form in this period and draw, for good or ill, on children’s experiences of their parents or other adults to whom they are emotional attached in the first years of life . . .when conversion experiences occur at later stages in ones’ life, the images formed in this stage have to be reworked in some important ways." (p. 103)
• Mythic-Literal Faith (coincides with Piaget’s "concrete operational thinking") :: Here concrete operational thinking--the developing ability to think logically--emerges to help us order the world with categories of causality, space, time and number. We can now sort out the real from the make-believe, the actual from fantasy. We can enter into the perspectives of others, and we become capable of capturing life and meanings in narrative and stories. (p. 105)
• Synthetic-Conventional Faith (coincides with Piaget’s "formal operational thinking") :: "The next stage characteristically begins to take form in early adolescence. The emergence of formal operational thinking [the ability to think abstractly] opens the way for reliance upon abstract ideas and concepts for making sense of one’s world. The person can now reflect upon past experience and search them for meaning and pattern. At the same time, concerns about one’s personal future--one’s identity, one’s work, career, or vocation--and one’s personal relationships become important" (p. 107). Keep this in mind: During the Mythic-Literal stage a child understands concrete concepts--things she/he can see or touch such as a policeman, lawyer or pastor-- but is unable to grasp abstract concepts (things you envision in your mind) such as law enforcement, law or theology (and yes, that includes God too). Abstract thinking emerges in the Synthetic-Conventional stage. It’s also important to know that everyone proceeds from stage-to-stage at her/his own pace. In fact, some people never develop the ability to think abstractly at no fault of their own.
• Individuative-Reflective Faith :: "In this next stage two important movements have to occur. One the one hand, to move into the Individuative-Reflective stage, we have to question, examine, and reclaim the values and beliefs that we have formed to that point in our lives. They must become explicit commitments rather than tacit commitments. ‘Tacit" her means unconsidered, unexamined, uncritically approved. "Explicit’ means consciously chosen and critically supported commitments . . .In the other move that this stage requires one has to claim what I call an ‘executive ego.’ In the previous stage . . .one could say that a person’s identity is largely shaped by her or his roles and relationships . . .In moving to the Individuative-Reflective stage, one has to face and answer such questions as, Who am I when I’m not defined by being my parents’ son or daughter? Who am I when I’m not defined by being so-and-so’s spouse? Who am I when I’m not defined by the work I do? Who is the ‘I’ that has those roles and relations but is not fully expressed by any one of them?" (pp. 109)
• Conjunctive Faith :: "At midlife we frequently see the emergence of the stage we call Conjunctive Faith. This stage involves the embrace and integration of opposites and polarities in one’s life. It means realizing in one’s late thirties, forties, or beyond that one is both young and old, and that youth and age are held together in the same life . . .It means coming to terms with the fact that we are both constructive people and, inadvertently destructive people. Paul captured this in Romans 7 when he said, "For I do not the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do . . .Who will rescue me from this body of death?’" (19, 24 NRSV; p. 111)
• Universalizing Faith :: "Beyond paradox and polarities, persons in the Universalizing Faith stage are grounded in a oneness with the power of being or God. Their visions and commitments seem to free them for a passionate yet detached spending of the self in love. Such persons are devoted to overcoming division, oppression, and violence, and live in effective anticipatory response to an inbreaking commonwealth of love and justice, the reality of an inbreaking kingdom of God." (P. 113).  Please remember this: Not everyone reaches this stage. According to Fowler, this stage includes the Mother Theresas, the Martin Luther Kings Jrs. and those whose faith is integrated into an unswerving commitment and devotion [hear *calling* or *lifestyle*] that cannot be hindered or quenched. 

More on this matter in the near future . . .

Sources:
Faithful Change by James Fowler
Weaving the New Creation by James Fowler

Technorati Tags : James+Fowler, stages+of+faith

Comments

[chutney]

I made a brief Wikipedia article on Fowler a while back, but it would be great if you could add to it with what you've got here.

[Mark Bushor]

Thanks for the recommendation; I wouldn't have thought to do that.

I've added a Permalink to this article on Wikipedia.

pax,
Mark Bushor

[Fontaine Moore]

Odd that my own TypePad blog is named "Life Journey." Anyway, I'm working on my doctorate in educational neuropsychology and am currently investigating models of human development which is what brought me here. Since my work involves the mind/body relationship, I've been contemplating the notion of dualism vs. singularity from more of a philosophical and psychological perspective. I've also been perusing the message boards of the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) and found some fascinating examples of responses--especially on the Da Vinci Code board--that clearly shows various levels, including Fowler's.

I just wrote out a thought that occured to me that I hope may be useful to you.

"I choose vs. I'm right

The purpose of faith and the religions formed around it, is to serve the believer. To the extent that the believer can adopt a position of "I choose" vs. "I'm right," they are able to apply the principles embodied by the religion to grow in and through that faith and thereby, improve their lives.

Those who take an "I'm right" position cannot focus on applying the principles of their faith to their own lives because they are, instead, invested in an ego and power-battle with others to establish dominance. The reason for the difference relates to personal development (cognitive, psychological, moral, and spiritual).

The goal of a religious leader, be he/she priest, minister, rabbi, mullah, or teacher, should be to support followers and congregants in their personal development--one that leads to adopting the "I choose" position. How much easier it would be to sit down and talk with each other to resolve problems, were that the case!"

[Amanda]

Hello. I was talking to a Priest who used to preach at the Church I actually no longer attend. Anyway, he recommended me reading about Fowler, and I came across your website. Perhaps you could read my recent blog entry under thoughts entitled "Spirituality and Religious Revelations". I seem to be stuck in the "Individuative-Reflective Faith" stage and was wondering if you might be able to help me shed light on what I have figured out so far and perhaps might be able to recommend some reading materials. Thanks.

[Amanda]

Hello. I was talking to a Priest who used to preach at the Church I actually no longer attend. Anyway, he recommended me reading about Fowler, and I came across your website. Perhaps you could read my recent blog entry under thoughts entitled "Spirituality and Religious Revelations". I seem to be stuck in the "Individuative-Reflective Faith" stage and was wondering if you might be able to help me shed light on what I have figured out so far and perhaps might be able to recommend some reading materials. Thanks.

[Mary]

This is very interesting. I am doing a lay ministry class in my Diocese and all the classes are strongly focused on the communal relationship of believers, which is why , I imagine they see Fowler's "stages" of developmet as a positive view on this issue. As a Third Order Carmelite I would recommend the Interior Castle as a richer understanding of spiritual development, not that I am an expert of Fowler, but it does bother me that the ingredient of God and Grace seem minnimized in this view point. I also see the relationship between the soul and God as a side by side development, not necessarily singular or leading to the primal community experience.This viewpoint seems to make the "community" into God.

As to "choice making something meaningful to the individual", my comment is we should not be seeking what is "true to us" but what is "TRUE" in the universal. That is not the same as "I am right", but more "I seek what is right, even aginst my own ego".

[Lawrence Law]

James W. Fowler development his faith theory was won the Christian’s applause, He explained that every Christian’s faith development dynamic. It shows how real life situations are reflected in faith development to maturity stage, But I still have lot of questions in my mind. My viewpoint based on my observations finds the weak points of Fowler’s theory are:
1 The first stage, early childhood more depends and relies on parents without question. It also can apply in this stage of faith that the child more relies on God. The problem is that Jesus said “only the child can entry the Kingdom of God”(6), entry into “kingdom of God” is not conditional on entry to other stages.

2 The limitation of the Fowler’s theory is that he divide the faith is in order;(from early age time to maturity time), there are no jumps or falls from stage to stage, the reality is that some Christians do not follow a track in faith, some do drop from stage 5 to stage 1, some are jump from 1 to 5 E.g. Some people suddenly received Holy Spirit and change their life (in Act 9:3-5Paul met Jesus, John Wesley(7) received the special holy experience) it will affect their faith’s development immediately.
3 Some people can drop the faith from high degree stages to zero stage during their life time. E.g. Aaron failed to lead the Jewish to worship the Idol (exodus 32-1-13) .Alternatively some of the Christians believed their faith deeply, but suddenly they said “I never believe Jesus again”.
4 Some heathens change their faith to Christianity from time to time (receive Jesus Christ). Do they automatically adopt their original faith’s stages to another faith’s stages? Or they start from beginning? Fowler didn’t tell us.
5 Fowler’s theory is base on psychological maturity development applied in faith. The psychological and mental state of peoples mind from time to time changes. Some of them may lose intelligence because of age or some encounter an accident or illness e.g.( change being more to stubborn or Alzheimer’s disease or Parkinson’s disease.), the human psychological and intelligence will go down hill, Fowler does not discuss this.
6 If a teenager’s father dies suddenly in an accident, she or he will grow up in a minute, because they are facing a great change which farces them to maturity. I can imagine that the assumption of faith also cause growing up in a minute, during a hard time or when something suddenly happens in life.So great changes can cause sudden moment even from Zero stage to perhaps stage four or five stages.
7 I had experience of seeing some very young child do a very good presentation in a film. He or she is seen to be a natural born actor (genius star), can this happen in faith? I think someone must have great potential in faith or be natural born religious in the human history, e.g. Buddha (stage six’s genius).Fowler does not suggest this.
8 Some people spend a whole life involved in religion and try hard to enter stage six ,is it possible for some one do wrong things(fail in the sin)and still stay on the stage six ? Acceding to the Romans 3:23”For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;” another matter is that if saints stay on stage six, can they guarantee to stay on stage six forever? Fowler does not mention this.

9 the reality is that Christian’s life is like a seeds , some of them dropped by the wayside ,some of them went on the rock, some of them “falling on good earth and came up and gave fruit a hundred times as much.” (8),It is seen to be only the last one “kind of good seed” which will have a good environment for development of their good faith (stage 4-5);if they are went on rock , they could never enter to stage 2-6.so Fowler’s theory can not apply in all faith development categories.
In general Fowler’s theory is quite good to explain faith development and easily touch on people’s hearts, because everyone has experience of growth towards. It is reminds us from time to time to reflect on our spiritual life, just like in Ephesians 4:13, St. Paul told the Ephesians disciples be “a perfect man and than measure of the stature of fullness of Christ”

[Mark]

Be very careful that you don't read your notion of faith into Fowler's. It's based on Piaget & Kohlberg more than scripture.

pax,
meb

[Michael Schirmacher]

Pet Peeve: Would you please spell Erik Erikson's last name correctly? It helps to distinguish him from Milton Erickson.

[Mark]

Done.

Speaking of done. I have turned "off" the comments on this post. I simply don't have time to keep up with these older posts.

Enjoy the post nonetheless.

pax,
meb